The Adventist camp meeting played an important part in conference development. These meetings provided a platform for Adventist speakers to spread their message; encouraged the social networking of Adventists; provided an opportunity for literature and books to be distributed; and other benefits of a free convention.

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WE design publishing a small monthly paper, containing matter for the benefit of the youth. And we are satisfied that our brethren and sisters will agree with us, that something of the kind is very much needed. The children should have a paper of their own, one that will interest and instruct them.

God is at work among the children who have believing parents, or guardians, and many of them are being converted, and they need to be instructed in the present truth. And there are a portion of the children who have believing parents, or guardians, who are neglected, and do not have right instruction, consequently, they do not manifest much interest for their own salvation. We trust that such a paper as we design publishing would interest such children, and also be the means of waking up their parents, or guardians to a sense of their important duty. On them rests the awful responsibility of training souls for the kingdorn of God. But it is a lamentable fact that many of their children are left without suitable instruction. We feel more on this subject than we can express. May God wake up his people to a sense of their duty to those young minds, intrusted to their care, to guide in the channel of virtue and holiness.

We intend to give four or five lessons, in the form of questions and answers, in each number, one for each week for Sabbath-School lessons. These Schools can be held where there are but two or three children as well as where there are more.

We invite our brethren and sisters, also our young friends, to furnish matter, original or selected, for the little paper. Let all be free to write. Communicate your thoughts with simplicity and clearness, with a heart that feels the condition of the tender, yet neglected youth, that must soon witness the day of the Lord. We hope that matter for the first number will be sent in immediately, as we wish to prepare it before we leave for our Eastern tour.

We publish this paper on our own responsibility, and think it duty to set the price at twenty five cents for a volume of twelve numbers, to be paid in advance, or within three months from the date of the first number.

Will some brother in each place, obtain all the names of the children that desire the paper, collect the means to pay for it, and forward it to us.

The paper will cost, including postage, only about three cents a month. Many little boys and girls spend enongh for candies and toys, that are of no real value, to pay for five or six such papers. We mean that all the children that cannot pay for it, who wish to read it, shall have it free, and we have no doubt but many of the children will deny themselves of toys, so as to be able to pay for their own, and some poor little boys’ or girls’ paper. We hope our young friends will do what they can, and we will try to give them an interesting and instructive little sheet.

“THERE is good reason for thinking that the first Sabbath-school in this country, if not in the world, was established at Ephrata, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Of this school Rev. Edwin W. Rice writes to the Sunday School World as follows :
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Among the earliest Saturday Sabbath-schools of this country, that at Ephrata, Pa., has long held a prominent place. The late Mr. Pardee, in his Sabbath-school Index, mentions it as “the first Sabbath- school of which we have any authentic, definite and detailed account, extending over a period of a quarter of a century.” This statement might lead some to suppose that there is quite a full history of the school now to be found. But it is not clearly known in what year the school was organized, precisely how it was conducted, nor whether it continued uninterruptedly from its organization to its final discontinuance, after the battle of Brandywine, when the building in which it was held was given up for an army hospital.

The Sabbath-school was first proposed and commenced by Ludwig Hacker (Hoecker), or ” Brother Obed,” as he was familiarly called. He was the teacher of a secular school established at Ephrata, under the direction of the German Seventh-Day Baptists, a denomination which separated from the Dunkers, or German Baptists, in 1728, under Conrad Beissel, who adopted the observance of the seventh, instead of the first day of the week, as the Christian Sabbath.

Beissel and many of his associates were men of education, and they established, at a very early period, a secular school, which soon gained such an honorable reputation that many young men from Philadelphia and Baltimore were sent there to be educated. Ludwig Hacker came to Ephrata, in 1739, as a teacher of this school.

Some time after his arrival, probably in 1740, he projected and commenced a school in the afternoons of their Sabbaths, “to give instruction to the indigent children, who were kept from regular school by employments which their necessities obliged them to be engaged at during the “week, as well as to give religious instruction to those of better circumstances.”

Of the success of this school Dr. Fahnestock, writing in 1835, says : ” It flourished for many years, and was attended with some remarkable circumstances. It produced an anxious inquiry among the juvenile population who attended the school, which increased and grew into what is termed a revival of religion. The scholars of the Sabbath-school met together everyday, before and after common school hours, to pray and exhort one another, under the superintendence of one of the brethren. The excitement ran into excess, and betrayed a zeal not according to knowledge, which induced Friedsam [Beissel] to discourage an enterprise which had been commenced, and was partly under way, viz : to erect a house for its especial use, to be called ” Succoth.” The building was, however, completed some time after the year 1749. It was located upon the brow of the lull, some distance from, and overlooking the chapel and other buildings of the society. It is believed to have been built in the same general style, and of materials similar to the “Sisters’ House,” the small ” Chapel,” and the ” Brothers’ House,” which are still standing, and are still occupied by a few of the surviving members of this religious colony.

The buildings are singular, and of very peculiar architecture, the outside of the walls having been covered with shingles or clapboards. It must be remembered that Beissel and his religious followers adopted a conventical mode of life in 1732, and also the dress of the White Friars, giving monastic names to their members, as Friedsam to Biessel. They commended celibacy, and the holding of the property in common, but did not make either compulsory; they did not approve of paying ministers any salary, and their order of worship was very simple. The society at Ephrata owned a farm, and were offered five thousand acres of land by William Penn, but declined the gift, fearing that the possession of so much property by them might create a worldly spirit.”
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By Pennsylvania. Dept. of Public Instruction, Pennsylvania.
Dept. of Common Schools, Pennsylvania State Education Association
Published by Pennsylvania State Education Association, 1875
Item notes: v. 24
Original from Harvard University
Digitized 5 May 2007

THERE is no greater or 1 more solemn commission given to the ministry than that of bringing, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the promised and greatly needed revival of spiritual life and power to our people. The servant of God has told us that this is “the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work.”—Selected Messages, vol. I, p. 121. Without it the work cannot be finished. Without it the church would be unprepared for translation. With it God will cut short His work in righteousness. O that we would delay no longer in bringing to our trusting people this deep and more truly spiritual ministry! Our people are hungry. They rightly look to us for such leadership. They are disappointed when we fail to give it. The dangers of worldly compromise, the needs of our youth in this hour of peril, solemnly challenge the ministry.

We do not need to reproduce here the many unequivocal statements of the Bible on what God intends to do for His people when the way is prepared. The promised “outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” “the latter rain,” “the loud cry,” are expressions familiar to all of us. Ever since I was a child I have heard our ministers preach and pray concerning it. I have longed that I might be privileged to share in that last glorious display of God’s power on this earth, when we are told that the scenes of Pentecost will be eclipsed. But as yet the promise of its fullness has not been fulfilled.

We have been told that “when the way is prepared for the Spirit of God, the blessing will come.”—Ibid., p. 124. Here is the key to the blessing of heaven. Here is the secret of power. Here is the explanation for our failures of the past and of the present. The entire story of the Bible is a history of revival. Read the story of that mighty revival recorded in 2 Chronicles 15. The people sinned. They became like the people around them and served other gods. God raised up His messenger and through him spoke messages of love and power. What happened? They were convicted. They put away their idols. They raised an altar to the Lord and had some great meetings. The people came from all around, even from other countries, when they saw that the Lord was with them. Make no mistake, the hunger of the soul for God is universal. When the glory of the Lord is manifested and the fire is on the altar, when sin is put away and Christ the Saviour is made Lord, the crowds will come and mighty revivals will take place.

The Men God Uses

When God finds truly humble and dedi- cated instruments who are willing to pay the price that a truly spiritual ministry demands, He has mighty weapons in His hand for the breaking down of strongholds and the establishing of His kingdom in the hearts of men. The greatest preparation for any revival must take place in the hearts of the instruments God will use. It is the preacher’s inner life that matters most, and argely determines the success or failure of any revival. It is not his education, his cul- ture, or his organizing ability, important as they may be. If he is a born-again servant of God, and has a passionate love for Christ; if he has a tender and understanding heart in his dealing with souls, and a growing love for and familiarity with the Word of God; if he is an unworldly man whom the people know comes to his task from the higher levels of fellowship and communion with God, a vitalizing power will attend his ministry. If he does not have this his ministry becomes mediocre and ineffective. Successful ministry is costly. It is a spiritual work. Find a man who will diligently cultivate his own soul and you will have an instrument of power. Otherwise, we merely preach but we do not woo. We talk, but nothing happens. We pass multitudes of resolutions, but nobody quakes. There is no vital movement toward God. The simple fact is this: when for any reason we become separated from the God we vowed to serve, we cease to become effective channels of His grace to His people. Then let the fire fall. Let the cleansing, energizing power of the Holy Spirit take possession of us. Let Jesus Christ and His will become the passion of our lives. Let self-glory vanish and the blessing will come, and the fires of true revival will be kindled in every land.

Revival Methods

During the last four years it has been my privilege to minister to thousands of our youth and our people in revival efforts in twelve cities, and in our colleges and academies in North America as well as in other lands. We give praise to our heavenly Father for what we have seen, especially among our youth. Surely one of the most heartening things that we see in all God’s work today is the response in the hearts of our young people to the call of God.

As these were youth-centered revivals, we have worked through the union and local Missionary Volunteer secretaries in preparing for and organizing the meetings. They in turn worked closely with the conference president and local pastor. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the local pastor’s influence in the promoting of the revival. His vision, support, and participation are essential to its success and to the follow-up.

We have followed the plan of holding meetings for nine-night periods, from Friday night until the Saturday night a week later, in a center where a number of churches could combine. The organization of Friendship Teams among our young people and members at least six weeks before our meetings were to begin, has been a special feature and especially “blessed by the Lord.

Prior to our crusade in Los Angles, Desmond Cummings, the MV secretary of the Southern California Conference, followed a plan of Friendship Team participation that produced remarkable results. In the city of Chicago, three weeks before the meetings began, more than 1,100 former Seventh-day Adventists and discouraged church members were being visited by members of the Friendship Teams. In the more recent Orlando, Florida, effort there were 60 Friendship Teams contacting more than 200 former members. Many times our hearts have been blessed and stirred by the sight of scores of our consecrated teen-agers and young people bringing their needy friends to the meetings and coming forward with them when the call was made. We have had the joy of seeing hundreds of back-sliders reclaimed, sin put away, and families reunited in a new and tender relationship of love to each other and to their Lord.

The Sabbath prior to the recent Orlando, Florida, effort, was a day of fasting and prayer. The churches held all-day services of intercession for the meetings. Hundreds, both old and voung, devoted the day to prayer and heart-searching. We are told that “a revival need be expected only in an- swer to prayer/’—Ibid., p. 121. There is no substitute for prayer. Real praying involves an outlay of time and effort that flesh and blood does not like. It is a spiritual work. Let the ministers lead the people into an experience of deep heart-searching and prevailing prayer, and results must come. “Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 362.

I am sure that no one in Orlando who attended those prayer seasons fully realized what was going to happen. The way indeed was prepared and the blessing came. Increasing and unprecedented crowds of up to 1,500 packed the Orlando central church each night. The meetings were extended by urgent request. The presence of God was felt in a powerful way, especially in the hearts of our youth who came from Forest Lake Academy and the surrounding churches. The last Saturday night witnessed a Pentecostal season in a meeting that lasted nearly four hours. It was impossible to close it. Great and marvelous victories were won in the hearts of our youth, many of whom were in very great need. Strong men wept as they saw and felt the power of God working upon the hearts of our youth. Surely this is not the work of man. Who among us has power to convict of sin and to turn sinners to righteousness? It is God’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Let us be careful lest we take the glory that be- longs to Him, or treat lightly the work of the Holy Spirit upon human hearts.

Someone might say that we have to be careful about emotionalism. That is true, but there is a vast difference between emotionalism and godly emotion. We cannot have too little of the former and too much of the latter. A godly sorrow for sin touches the emotions. Our Saviour wept for sinners and His heart bled and was broken for a lost world. Brethren, our hearts also must bleed if we would be ministers of the saving power of Christ’s blood. Tearless hearts can never be heralds of the passion of Him who “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Heb. 5:7).

We follow the plan in most of the meet- ings of either making an altar call or of holding an after-meeting. Altar calls are made when the Spirit of conviction is markedly present. Sometimes an invitation is given for those who feel their need and who wish to stay for an after-season of prayer to come to the prayer room during the singing of the last hymn. It is in these after-services where much of the real work of the campaign is done. Here we come into a closer, more intimate contact with those who are needing help. The pastors meet with us. Decision cards are used for follow-up work. If any wish personal help the pastors take them aside right there in the church or in some anteroom for counseling and prayer. What blessed seasons, what reaching out to the Lord, what victories claimed by faith have been experienced in these after-services. During the week the pastors and local workers meet each morning for an hour of prayer, heart-searching, and Bible study. The rest of the day is given to visitation in the homes of those especially in need of help and to those in the academy and church school.

The final Saturday night is devoted to praise and testimony. These meetings have been among the most powerful and blessed of all. A distinct blessing comes to those who have found a new experience in Christ when they give expression to their faith and love in testimonies of praise. Frequently many more decisions have been secured as we have used the earnest testimony of some youth who has found Christ anew as a basis of appeals to others in the audience. We need to use the personal testimony method more than we do. There is power in it. The servant of God calls upon every youth who loves the Lord to confess Him before his fellow youth. “Tell them how you found Jesus and how blessed you have been since you gained an experience in His service. Tell them what blessing comes to you as you sit at the feet of Jesus and learn precious lessons from His word.

Tell them of the gladness and joy that there is in the Christian life. . . . This is genuine missionary work, and as it is done, many will awake as from a dream.”—Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 48.

Yes, brethren, “many will awake as from a dream.” We have seen this happen time and time again. During the final service of testimony in one recent campaign, a well- known youth who had wandered far from Christ came to the microphone and gave a broken and heartfelt testimony of his decision to turn from a life of sin and follow Christ all the way. Previously he had held back largely because of his companions. Now an appeal was made to his buddies in the audience to join him, to finish with sin and disobedience and with him confess Christ as their Saviour. More than twenty lads were soon on the platform beside him, some of whom were sobbing and under deep conviction. The personal testimony and witness of one youth did a work in the hearts of others that all the sermons of the previous week had failed to do. Scores were awakened “as from a dream.” It was a Pen- tecostal season. Hours after the meeting closed, youth tarried in the church with anxious hearts, wanting to know how to find Christ and get right with Him.

The Science of Preaching

The work of preaching and of soul win- ning, especially among youth, is a science so deep and so vast that we cry out, “Who of us, O Lord, is sufficient for these things?” I have not written of anything or told of any methods that are new to our men. What must be new among us is to be found in our hearts. If we would be God’s instru- ments, the fire must be kindled anew there. It is the atmosphere of spirituality around the preacher, the warm throb of his heart, his yearning for the souls of his people, his deep understanding of the longings, of the failures, and of the needs of his flock that gives his words power and wings them home to the hearts of his hearers. Fortunate the congregations who get such ministers.

Then, too, our great need is simplicity in presenting the love of God in Christ to our people. There is no substitute for this. “To invest the simplest truths with novelty and singularity, is to rob them of their power to win souls to Christ.”—Sons and Daugh- ters of God, p. 266. Let us shun the spectacular and the novel and hold to the simple, direct preaching of Christ and the Word. In music let us discard the superficial and the showy and hold to the grand old hymns and songs of the cross, of Zion, and of Christian experience. Many of the greatest hymns of the Christian church were born in times of mighty spiritual awakening when men’s souls were stirred to deep devotion to Christ.

If we would see sinners brought to the foot of the cross and the saints established in holy living we must preach on the great themes of the Bible. J. H. Jowett once said, “Our visions always determine the quality of our tasks.” Too often the preacher’s vision is limited because he has not, like Isaiah, seen “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1); consequently his sermons are inadequate for the desperate needs of his flock. Let the great themes of the love of God in Christ, repentance, forgiveness, justification, sanctification, a full salvation through Jesus Christ, and His glorious return be presented. No sentimental preaching of the gospel, no preaching merely of lofty idealism will bring healing and salvation to the people. We are warned against this type of preaching. “The Lord desired His servants today to preach the old gospel doctrine, sorrow for sin, repentance, and confession. We want old-fashioned sermons, old-fashioned customs, old- fashioned fathers and mothers in Israel. The sinner must be labored for, perseveringly, earnestly, wisely, until he shall see that he is a transgressor of God’s law, and shall exercise repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.”— Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 19.

This precious Advent message was born in one of the greatest revivals in history. It will close in the mightiest revival of all time. Brethren, our task is a holy one. It is an imperative one. Thousands of our youth and of our people must be brought to realize that “a mere profession of Christ is not enough to prepare one to stand the test of the Judgment” (Ellen G. White in The Review and Herald, Jan. 25, 1887), and that “only those who are clothed in the garments of His righteousness will be able to endure the glory of His presence when He shall appear with ‘power and great glory.’ “— ELLEN G. WHITE in The Review and Her- ald, July 9, 1908.

In the last message the servant of God sent to the General Conference, in 1913, she says, “I have been deeply impressed by scenes that have recently passed before me in the night season. There seemed to be a great movement—a work of revival—going forward in many places. Our people were moving into line, responding to God’s call.” —Testimonies to Ministers, p. 515. Could the scenes we are witnessing in places here and there on the earth today be a part of that greater movement, that work of revival and reformation which the servant of God foresaw forty-six years ago? This work is long overdue. The power of Pentecost is our supreme need. May we, His servants, not fail Him or His people in this last solemn hour.

It has been demonstrated again and again during the war years and since, that conscientious conviction against bearing arms is not rooted in cowardice. It may and often does, accompany the highest bravery.

To go undefended, without arms, where danger is greatest, and to go to save life and not take it, may require greater devotion and higher courage than to go there well armed.

The most recent example we have had of this is the experience of one of our Adventist men who took Medical Cadet training and was drafted into the Marine Corps. I can best give you his story by quoting from an article that appears on the front page of the Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), written by Frederick C. Painton, a special correspondent of the United Press, with the First Marine Division in Korea.

Stirring Front-Page Story

Under date of Sunday, January 18,1953, and under a four-column headline, entitled “War Objector Decorated,” the Press story read:

“A husky young sailor told Saturday how he became the first conscientious objector of’ the Korean War to win a medal for heroism in combat.

“He saw his best friend killed in a Communist ambush. He does. not hate the enemy. He carries three pieces of shell fragments in his body, but he never tried to kill a man.

“In a quiet but positive way, Hospital Corpsman Alvin Joyner, 23, of Madison, Wisconsin, is a Seventh-day Adventist. His religion forbids violence.” But during two months at the front, Joyner has won three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. He never carried a weapon.

” ‘It makes you old in a hurry,’ he said. ‘But when you think back it seems like a nightmare, not something that really happened.'” At the Battle of Bunker Hill Joyner was blinded temporarily under his first Communist artillery barrage.” ‘We had 31 men hit in the first half hour,’ he said. ‘1 couldn’t leave the guys lying there. There was a barrage coming in every five minutes. I was trying to get one man with his arm half blown off. Then in came another shell.’

“Joyner started to crawl to the wounded Marine, then ‘realized I couldn’t see.’

“He had been blinded by powder burns from the flash of the exploding shell.

“For the rest of the night, Joyner kept giving blood to the wounded, feeling his way with his hands. Finally his company commander ordered him back to the rear. “Joyner refused to go.

” ‘1 couldn’t have stayed back,’ he said. ‘The cries I heard-you just couldn’t if you had any conscience at all:

“Coming out of a bunker, Joyner stumbled and fell flat on his face. ‘Can’t you see?’ a sergeant asked him.

“‘I haven’t been able to see in some time,’ Joyner told him. Joyner was evacuated but after quick treatment was returned to his company, still with only blurred vision. “The first night back he was wounded again.

” ‘My eyes started bothering me again: he said. ‘Everything was beginning to catch up with me. The company commander personally conducted me to the battalion aid station.’

“They gave him a Bronze Star for Bunker Hill. He got the Silver Star for a combat patrol that ‘never had a chance:

“‘They spotted us before we ever got to the objective,’ he said, ‘and dropped in mortars. A little guy we all liked was hit. A man trying to carry him was hit, too.

“‘I ran to them and was giving this little guy some plasma when a mortar blew the plasma bottle out of my hand. He had enough in him to get over shock.’

“‘With both patrol leaders killed or wounded, it was Joyner who led the men back through a maze of mine fields to Allied lines, carrying ‘the little guy.’ “Joyner still says he does not deserve the Silver Star just ·for that.

“If he’s lucky he will go home soon, because he has three Purple Hearts for wounds.

“Even after a year in Korea he doesn’t smoke, drink, or swear.

” ‘I was pretty lucky in boot camp,’ he said. ‘They didn’t make me fire the weapons. Around here I don’t have to carry a weapon either… ‘I’m not trying to be different. It’s just the way I feel. I think you can be a conscientious objector and still be a good citizen.”’

Story Appears in Many Papers

The foregoing story also appeared in many other United Press newspapers. When news of the exploits of their son reached the parents of Alvin Joyner, who are Seventh-day Adventists, living in Madison, Wisconsin, and was publicized in the local newspapers, they received many letters of congratulation, including one from the pastor of the First Congregational church, Madison, Wisconsin, in which he said: “Let me be among the many who must rejoice with you in the possession of a son like Alvin Joyner, whose story of courageous medical service in Korea is related on the front page of Sunday’s ‘Wisconsin State Journal.

“Had the world more of this testimony it would be a much better place. “I rejoice in the religious impulse which bids him heal and help the wounded and broken, with no weapon at hand but faith and love.”

The religious press representative with the First Marine Division also wrote a story, saying in part:

“Mr. Joyner was injured with shrapnel and powder burns of the eyes while administering blood albumin to a comrade whose life was slowly ebbing away. Realizing the situation and its seriousness and disregarding his own safety; the young corpsman carried his patient to the nearest means of evacuation nearly a mile from their former position. “At the time this is sent to you of the Wisconsin Seventh-day Adventist Conference, I can say in happiness that this young Christian is nearly restored to original health.

“He still remains in Korea assisting the many wounded in the capacity of X-ray technician at ‘A’ medical company some four miles to the rear of the front battle lines.

“As a member of a Christian faith and also religious press reporter, I send this report with the belief that it will be welcome news to Mr. Joyner’s many friends there and elsewhere in the denomination. “I have personally become acquainted with the above gentleman and know that anything said in this statement is but small tribute to him.

“For his part in the story of Korea he has been awarded the Silver Star for bravery and courage above and beyond the call of duty.

“Remaining always an admirer of the Adventist men and their accomplishments in our service contacts,

There were approximately twelve thousand Seventh-day Adventists in the military forces of the United States in World War II. Forty-five of these were awarded the Bronze Star Medal, six of whom also received Oak Leaf Clusters. Twelve were awarded the Silver Star Medal, two of whom also received Oak Leaf Clusters. One was awarded the Gold Star Medal. Six received Special Commendations. One received the Air Medal. Sixteen were awarded Presidential Citations. Three received Meritorious Service Plaques. Three were given Legion of Merit Awards. One received a Certificate of Merit. Five were given the Soldier’s Medal. One was awarded the Croix de Guerre. And one received the highest award within the gift of the nation, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

These were not all who performed deeds of valor and heroism at posts of danger. But these are enough to disclose that noncombatancy is not destructive of the highest courage and devotion.